Matilda (1996 film)
Matilda is a 1996 American fantasy film directed by Danny DeVito, based on the novel of the same name by Roald Dahl. The film was released by TriStar Pictures on August 2, 1996 and stars Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, Embeth Davidtz, Pam Ferris and Mara Wilson as the title character. Plot Matilda Wormwood (Mara Wilson) is an extremely intelligent girl with a bright personality from an early age, but her spiteful and ignorant parents, Harry (Danny DeVito) and Zinnia (Rhea Perlman), neglect and even mistreat her. When Matilda reaches four, she discovers the local library and walks there every day to read while her family is out, much to the amusement of the librarian, Mrs. Phelps (Jean Speegle Howard), who then gives Matilda a library card. By the age of six, Matilda begins to lose patience with her parents. In retaliation for her father belittling her, she mixes his hair tonic with her mother's hair dye. Harry later takes his family to his workshop, where he reveals that the cars he sells are actually faulty and irresponsibly managed. Matilda accuses him openly, he belittles her again and Matilda retaliates against her father again by putting super-glue on his hat which he struggles to get off, forcing Zinnia to cut it off. Harry then belittles Matilda again for reading while her family is watching television. As Harry tries to force her to watch with them, Matilda grows very angry and the television suddenly explodes. One of Harry's clients, Agatha Trunchbull (Pam Ferris), is the sadistic headmistress of a run-down school, Crunchem Hall. Harry enrolls Matilda in the school, where she befriends several children, but at the same time, learns, especially from Lavender Brown (Kiami Davael) and Hortensia (Kira Spencer Hesser), of Agatha's nature and her particularly harsh punishments towards the students, such as the dreaded "Chokey," throwing students out of windows, and forcing a boy, who stole her slice of chocolate cake, to eat a whole chocolate cake in front of the entire student body to make him sick (though he finishes the cake without getting sick). Fortunately, Matilda's teacher, Miss Jennifer Honey (Embeth Davidtz), is a kind and lovely woman who adores her pupils and takes an immediate liking to Matilda for her intellect. Jennifer speaks with Her aunt and requests that Matilda be moved up to a higher class. She pays Harry and Zinnia a visit and requests that they pay more attention to Matilda, but they refuse to listen, effectively making her the only person who truly understands Matilda. Meanwhile, Matilda discovers that she and her family are under FBI surveillance, because of her Harry's shady dealings, and purchasing of stolen goods and car parts, but her parents refuse to believe her, the FBI agents having already fooled them into thinking they are speedboat salesmen. Sometime later, Agatha goes to Matilda's class for a weekly "check-up" and starts to belittle the students. As a prank, Lavender places a newt in her water jug to frighten her. However, she accuses Matilda, and her rage at the injustice leads to her telekinetically tipping the glass over and splashing the water and the newt onto Agatha, frightening her. Feeling sympathy for Matilda, Jennifer invites her to her house for tea. On the way, they pass Agatha's house, and Jennifer reveals her secret to Matilda: when she was two years old, her mother died, so her father,, Magnus, a doctor, invited his late wife’s stepsister, Agatha, to live with them and look after his daughter while her father was at work. However, Agatha mistreated and abused her niece at every opportunity. When Jennifer was five, her father died of an apparent suicide and in his will, he left all of his assets to stepsister-in-law, leaving his daughter with nothing. Eventually, Jennifer moved out of her aunt’s house into a small cottage she rented from a local farmer. After hearing and the telling the story, they briefly sneak into Agatha's house while she is out, but her unexpected return leads to a cat-and-mouse chase with Matilda and Jennifer only barely escaping unseen. When Matilda's telekinetic powers manifest again during when Zinnia and Harry argue, to which Matilda slams the door in Harry's face, she trains herself to use her ability at her own will, and her first act was sabotaging the FBI agents' vehicle during their attempt to search Harry's garage without a warrant. That night, Matilda returns to Agatha's house, and from outside, wreaks havoc in an attempt to scare her away. Agatha almost flees in terror, but she finds Matilda's red hair ribbon in the process and realizes that she was there. The next day, she visits Her niece's class again to get Matilda to admit her guilt. But as she begins belittling the children again, Matilda uses her powers to write a message on the blackboard, posing as the ghost of Jennifer's late father Magnus Honey, accusing his stepsister-in-law of murdering him and ordering her to leave town. Agatha is driven insane by the terror and attacks the students, but Matilda keeps them out of harm's way with her powers and the students then force her out of the school by pelting her with food and garbage until she leaves. Magnus Honey's true will is discovered by the police, which named Jennifer as the sole beneficiary of her late father's assets, and she moves back into her home, with Matilda visiting frequently. Sometime later, however, the FBI finally uncovers enough evidence to prosecute Harry, and they prepare to flee to Guam. They stop by Jennifer's house to take Matilda with them, but she refuses to accompany them, claiming she wants to stay with her, who admits that she has come to see Matilda as the daughter she never had. In that moment, Harry and Zinnia then state that Matilda was the only daughter they had ever had and never understood, but they decide to let her teacher adopt her by signing the adoption papers, this time on good terms with her. Harry, Zinnia and Michael escape, while Matilda lives a happy life with Jennifer, and Miss Jennifer Honey is made principal of Crunchem Hall. Cast *Mara Wilson as Matilda Wormwood *Alissa and Amanda Graham, Trevor and James Gallagher as Matilda - newborn *Kayla and Kelsey Fredericks as Matilda - 9 months *Amanda and Caitlin Fein as Matilda - toddler *Sara Magdalin as Matilda - 4 years *Danny DeVito as Harry Wormwood/Narrator *Rhea Perlman as Zinnia Wormwood *Embeth Davidtz as Miss Jennifer Honey *Brian Levinson as Michael Wormwood *Nicholas Cox as Michael - 6 Years *Pam Ferris as Agatha Trunchbull *Paul Reubens as FBI Agent Bob *Tracey Walter as FBI Agent Bill *Kiami Davael as Lavender *Jacqueline Steiger as Amanda Thripp *Kira Spencer Hesser as Hortensia *Jimmy Karz as Bruce Bogtrotter *Jean Speegle Howard as Mrs. Phelps *Marion Dugan as Cookie *Emily Eby as Maggie *Jon Lovitz as Mickey on The Million Dollar Sticky (uncredited) Differences from the novel The film is with the exception of the antagonist a modernized and Americanized version of Roald Dahl's novel of eight years earlier. Various plot points are shortened or removed, while new details and sequences are added. *In the film, Matilda's father destroys the library book Moby Dick by Herman Melville along with saying that the book is garbage, while in the novel, the book he destroys is The Red Pony by John Steinbeck out of pure malice as he thinks American authors are morally bankrupt. *In the film, Matilda’s brother is turned from an ordinary boy into a bullying child, and her mother shows some humanity by giving her away because she is better suited to a life with Miss Honey, while in the novel, both parents drop her without a second thought. *In the novel, Matilda loses her telekinetic powers after the incident with Miss Trunchbull.[clarification needed] In the film, she still has them in the end, but almost never uses them. *The scene of a boy being thrown out of the window by Ms. Trunchbull in the film shows that he was eating two M&M's chocolate candies during a literature class while the novel says that he was eating Liquorice allsorts during a Bible study class. *In the novel, the chokey is a cupboard with glass sticking out the walls and nails sticking through the door and is only described by Hortensia. In the film, the chokey was a hole in the wall with nails and glass sticking out through the door and though Hortensia describes it just like in the novel, Matilda is placed there once by Trunchbull (which never happened in the novel). *At the end of the film, Miss Honey is made the new principal after Miss Trunchbull vanishes, while the novel reveals that the job goes to Mr. Trilby, the sympathetic Deputy Head, who has a minor role in the novel and does not appear in the film at all. *The sub-plot about Mr. Wormwood's shady deals landing him in trouble with the police is hardly mentioned at all in the novel, but in the film, it is expanded and built upon; Matilda notices the two FBI agents spying on them and repeatedly tries to tell her family without any of them believing her that they are (reiterating that no one takes any notice of her despite her trying to help them) cops, with her parents insisting that they are speedboat salesmen. *In the novel, Miss Honey's class are five, whereas in the film Matilda and her classmates are six (as stated by Matilda when asked her age). *After Matilda writes the horrifying message on the board, there is a food fight to force Ms. Trunchbull out of school but in the novel, there is no food fight and Miss Trunchbull flees from her house. *The part where Miss Trunchbull breaks a China platter on Bruce Bogtrotter after he finishes a whole cake is depicted entirely different. The films shows that she demands that everyone stays in school for five hours to copy from the dictionary as a punishment and they are sent home late at night, but the novel reveals that she furiously orders everyone to leave the assembly room. Awards ;Wins *'YoungStar Award' **Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Comedy Film — Mara Wilson *'Cinekid Lion Audience Award' **Best Director — Danny DeVito *'Oulu International Children's Film Festival Starboy Award' **Best Director — Danny DeVito ;Nominations *'Satellite Awards' **Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture — Comedy or Musical (Danny DeVito) *'Young Artist Award' **Best Performance in a Feature Film — Leading Young Actress (Mara Wilson) **Best Performance in a Feature Film — Supporting Young Actress (Kira Spencer Hesser) Music Two songs are featured in the film. One of them, "Send Me on My Way" by Rusted Root, is played twice: when the four-year-old Matilda is left alone at her house, making pancakes, and at the end of the film, set to a montage of Matilda and Miss Honey playing at Miss Trunchbull's former house. The other song is Thurston Harris's "Little Bitty Pretty One", played when Matilda is learning to control her psychokinetic powers. The film's score was composed by David Newman. Reception Matilda received critical acclaim at the time of its release. On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a "fresh" rating of 90%.[1] In the United States, the film was a box-office bomb, earning $33 million in contrast to its $36 million budget.[2] It fared better during its worldwide release and ended up earning back nearly double its original budget. The film has continued to be a cult classic since its release. Category:Browse Category:Organization Category:Community Category:Help Category:Characters